Friday, 27 April 2018

GOVERNMENT has stopped funding 18 pupils attending former
first lady Grace Mugabe’s private school under the Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (Stem) programme after it emerged that the school
controversially benefited from the state-sponsored initiative, the Zimbabwe
Independent can report.

At the peak of her husband’s 37-year rule which came to an
end last November following a military coup, Grace expanded her empire to areas
such as real estate, farming and education.

She built a private school in Mazowe.

The Independent has learnt that government has since
stopped paying fees totalling US$3 800 per term for each of the 18 pupils
enrolled at Amai Mugabe High School under the Stem programme, forcing parents
to look for places elsewhere.

The Stem programme was meant to benefit pupils attending
government, council and mission schools but not elite private schools. Maximum
fees the government was required to pay was US$1200 per child per term.

In a year government was paying Amai Mugabe High School a
total of US$205 200 for the 18 students for three terms.

Following the withdrawal, government advised parents to
either pay for the fees individually or look for affordable schools for the
Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (Zimdef) to continue to pay.

The Stem initiative was introduced at the start of 2016. It
provides free education to Advanced Level students registered for Stem
undertaking subjects like Maths, Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry and
Biology.

In January, government suspended taking new entries under
the programme. The government is however paying for pupils who had already
enrolled.

An official from the ministry said government had stopped
paying for the fees at Grace’s school because it was privately-owned and also
because the fees were above the agreed threshold.

“When the policy was initiated, it was meant to assist
government, mission and community schools, or schools in farming areas. The
target was to help students from underprivileged backgrounds that are good in
science subjects. However, questions were asked as to why Grace Mugabe’s school
was enrolling students for Stem as it is a private school and did not fall
under the required schools. It was a controversial issue but then it was a
directive,” said the government official who preferred anonymity.

Contacted for comment on Wednesday Higher and Tertiary
Education, Science and Technology Development Minister, Amon Murwira confirmed
that government had stopped paying for Stem students registered at private
schools.

“All schools that were irregularly benefiting from Stem
including private schools, I stopped paying for them without fear or favour.
The policy is we do not pay for students enrolled at private schools instead we
pay for those enrolled at government, mission or council schools. The policy is
that the fees should not exceed US$1 200,” Murwira said.

During a tour of universities and polytechnics in Bulawayo
in January, Murwira said, there was going to be a forensic audit of the Zimdef
financial accounts.

“We are re-examining Zimdef and its allocations, its public
knowledge that we are doing a forensic audit on Zimdef. What we are trying to
find out with the forensic audit is how money has been used. It’s not a witch
hunting exercise but a fact finding mission so that we completely understand
what happened with the money,” Murwira said. Zimbabwe Independent